Major Milestone

Today Ben wrote his own name for the first time. He's written out individual letters before, but this time he sat down with a piece of paper and wrote his name. He then proceeded to write DAD and MOM and CHAR, which is the name of one of his aunties. This makes me think I really need to start doing some reading/writing lessons with him. Anyway, can you tell we're excited about this?

Deal Finder

Shopping Tip: For all you fans of Bath and Body Works Wallflowers, they're on sale at our local B&BW for 75% off. Instead of the regular $12.50, they're only $3.50. So get there before they're gone. I've never actually used Wallflowers, but have heard raves about them. If you have spied any amazing deals lately, post them in the comments section.

Beating the System

Victorious again! This week I succeeded in getting a $100 parking ticket waived. We got the ticket when we were in D.C. over Thanksgiving, and I figured we had a plausible story so I wrote in and gave it a try. This is not the first ticket I've gotten waived. Three were in Boston: Two $60 parking tickets for not having a parking permit when we'd just moved in and could not physically have gone in and applied for a parking pass in the first 10 minutes we arrived in town. For the record, Boston ticket writers and tow trucks are ruthless. My third was a $240 speeding ticket where I was going through one of the Big Dig freeway tunnels and didn't notice that the speed limit had gone from 65 to 45. So...busted for going 68 in a 45. I had to go into court and everything.

Then last year I got a ridiculous parking ticket in downtown Columbus because of a little meter mix-up. Again, I had to go in for a hearing and got the problem quickly resolved. Also for the record, the Columbus parking court is quite scary.

Lest you think I am a true road hazard, I was not the driver when we got the DC ticket. But I have taken it upon myself to fight the parking system that I think is mainly created to drum up additional revenue for cities. Here's the letter I wrote in regards to the D.C. ticket. I pulled out the kid reason, which was actually true, hoping for a sympathetic examiner.

Dear Hearing Examiner,

I am writing in regards to our parking ticket (Citation # 388901752) received over the Thanksgiving weekend on Friday, November 28, 2008. I would like to admit the ticket, with an explanation.

We were parked on the 0600 Block of Independence Ave, SW side while we visited the Air and Space Museum. It ended up taking longer to leave than we'd expected (we have a 3 1/2 year old son) and by the time we got out, we found a ticket on our car. The parking enforcement officer came soon after the 4 p.m. limit posted on the signs, and we were out soon enough thereafter that we were not towed.

Although we were parked in the space after the posted time allowable, I'd like to request that you consider waiving or reducing our fine for the following reasons:

1. The fact that it was the holiday weekend constituted less rush hour traffic due to people returning home from work.

2. We were not long enough over the limit to get towed.

3. We had a very excited toddler and unfortunately lost track of time because he was enjoying his first visit to the Air and Space Museum so much.

Please let me know if I can offer any additional information or clarification. I can be reached at (614) 529-6620 or nollie_anne@hotmail.com. Thank you for your consideration and have a happy holiday season.

Sincerely,



Nollie Haws

So if you get a ticket, fight it! More often than not if you're courteous and rational, you'll end up saving a few bucks. But I guess better to not get a ticket in the first place. Need to work on that one. What's your experience with traffic tickets?

All You Gotta Do is Dance

Remember this little piece of cinematic history, replete with one of the best dance scenes ever? Well, Ben is channeling his inner Napoleon Dynamite with some new dance moves. He got a little electronic keyboard for Christmas that comes with pre-recorded synthesizer music. Ben apparently really liked a disco tune that sounds like it's from a cheesy Asian nightclub and started dancing like crazy. Think Napoleon Dynamite meets Michael Jackson meets break dancing. Andy and I laughed for an hour while Ben shook his fanny, slapped his thighs, twisted and turned on the ground, the moves punctuated with shouts of "Skadoosh!" We had no idea what he was saying until someone informed me yesterday that it's from Kung Fu Panda. I'll let the dance speak for itself. Oh, I think the too-small tight white t-shirt really adds that dramatic flare.

P.S. Our camera isn't great at taking video, so you might have to turn the sound up really loud to hear the music.

Washington - Part 1

I am so glad to be back. Seeing family was great, but I feel like it's taking much longer this time around to recover from the traveling. Between going to/from SLC and to/from Washington, we spent tons of time in the aiport. Hopefully our travel hangover will wear off by the end of this week.

I'll start with pictures from the second part of the trip first, since my brother was kind enough to give me a CD of all the pictures he took during our stay. We flew in/out of Spokane, which is two hours north of my hometown of Kennewick, and managed to avoid Spokane's record snowfall both times. They've had a whopping six feet and K-Town got some as well, but most had melted by the time we arrived.


I know you're all dying of curiosity about the geese, so I'll start with that. Andy, Bekka (younger sis), and I decided to go on a run down to the Columbia River on New Year's Day. We arranged for Kaylee (18-year-old sis), Ben, Rikker, Kara, and Leslie (bro, sis-in-law, and their baby) to pick us up at Columbia Park and then we'd go feed the ducks with some stale bread. We were not prepared for what awaited us: A swarming mass of hungry, domesticated geese that stormed us upon arrival.
Ben loved chasing the geese around and watching them run away.

We did have one casualty: Kaylee's sweatshirt was attacked by a rogue seagull trying to get in on the food action.

Bekka and her adoring crowd. If you feed them, they will come.

Leslie taking it all in from the safety of Kara's arms.

Now that Leslie is walking, a baby gate was strategically placed so she couldn't escape outside or fall down the stairs. I love this picture of the kids looking forlornly from their prison. Ben promptly decided he'd had enough and climbed over the gate.

Andy's morning ritual: The crossword puzzle in the newsapaper.

My mom on New Year's Eve. Sadly, I was the party pooper and fell asleep at 11:30. Does anyone else think that New Year's is the most overrated holiday ever? The Tri-Cities has a minor league hockey teams, and we went to a game earlier that night. Ben loved the Zamboni and the rest of us enjoyed watching the 17-20 year-old Canadian NHL hopefuls beat up on each other.

Kira getting a little crazy on New Year's. A beverage in a red plastic cup? That's how we roll at the Dockum household.

Ben felt a little lost in the shuffle of all the wedding preparations. Every day of our trip he told us he wanted to go home to Ohio.

One of my favorite pictures of Ben. Rikker and Kara got a nice new Nikon camera for Christmas and the difference between a regular point and shoot is amazing.

Kaylee wrangling both babies - Super Auntie!!

Bekka and Ben decorating a gingerbread tree.

Leslie caught in action in her favorite playplace - the box of oranges.

No trip to Kennewick is complete without a trip to the local bowling alley. Probably because it's one of the few things to do in the winter. We got to the bowling alley and Ben saw that Kaylee had a wrist guard since she is on the school bowling team. Well he absolutely had to have one as well and we almost had a meltdown. Thanks to some quick thinking on Kaylee's part, she fished one of her glittens (glove-mitten) out of her purse and voila: A pint-sized wrist guard! Crisis averted.

Randy and Kaylee locked in mortal video game combat.

Kira and Rikker breaking it down on Dance Dance Revolution. Wouldn't you know it, Rikker has some fancy feet and won with his mad dancing skills.

The Haws bowling in tandem - pardon the unflattering rear shots.

Kaylee and Ben and their wrist guards.

There and Back Again

We're back from an exhausting 2+ weeks of exhausting Christmas frivolity and wedding madness. Wondering what is happening in this picture? Leave your musings in a comment and as soon as I get to posting our holiday pictures you'll find out what the gaggle of geese is all about.